IDF Lieutenant mortally wounded in Cast Lead has baby daughter

A new life begins: This morning, a firstborn daughter was born to Lieutenant Aharon Karov, critically wounded during Operation Cast Lead in January 2009, and his wife Tzivya.

Lieutenant Aharon Karov, who served as the commander of Platoon 890 in the Paratrooper Brigade, was mortally wounded just days after he got married. He was hit by a charge that was set off against him and his soldiers in the Shaati Refugee Camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

A day after he was married, Lieutenant Karov was called back to his unit, and days afterward he was mortally wounded. From there, Karov embarked on a long, drawn-out rehabilitation process, and today he lives with Tzivya in the Samarian town of Ariel and continues his rehabilitation. In his free time, Karov studies in the Yeshiva for evacuees of the Netzarim settlement (a former Jewish settlement on Gaza destroyed in 2005) in Ariel.

Shehechayanu VeKiyemanu

Last February, Karov was released from hospital and was transferred to the rehabilitation ward at Tel HaShomer. Upon his release, has father made the Shehecheyanu blessing. According to his doctors, Karov never ceased to surprise them with the speed of his recovery.

“He got to us critically wounded, suffering from shrapnel wounds to the head, face, and torso,” recounted one of his doctors, and recalled their dark prognosis for him. “We were pessimistic and thought that his days were numbered.”

His father recalled how doctors admitted that there were very few instances of so quick a recovery from wounds like Aharon’s, but his path remains a long one. “Aside from the complicated medical procedures awaiting him, he still needs to relearn how to do simple things like writing and using his hands.”

Minutes before he left Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva for the rehabilitation ward at Sheba in Tel HaShomer, his father Zev spoke about Aharon’s reaction when he heard that he was being transferred. “He put his fingers together, brought them close to his mouth, kissed them, and raised his hand to the skies.”